Andrew, love those off-the-beaten-path ideas that you bring out! Reading every bike news site every day, I can get a bit unimpressed by the awesome 13K$ bikes that come out. When I was a bike mechanic, after having built and fixed many cool high-end bikes, the thing that we loved the most were the old 80's/90's bikes or weird things that would come in the shop. Nothing was more satisfying than giving a tune-up and fixing up an old abandoned-in-the-shed steel Rocky Mountain from the 90's to get it back working like a new one.
Trying new old things like that friction shifter or riding rigid bikes keeps things interesting in this era where bikes work so well and are so "easy" to ride. I brought out the old hardtail for a few rides with a friend this summer and he asked "Why are you riding this instead of your shiny new bike?!". Riding it feels so different, but at the same time, it reminds me that I have just as much fun riding a low-end hardtail as when riding my new high-end custom full-suspension bike built exactly like I wanted. Plus it's always satisfying to pass people on 8K$ Yetis with that old hardtail haha!
Sept. 11, 2020, 6:27 a.m. - Martin
Andrew, love those off-the-beaten-path ideas that you bring out! Reading every bike news site every day, I can get a bit unimpressed by the awesome 13K$ bikes that come out. When I was a bike mechanic, after having built and fixed many cool high-end bikes, the thing that we loved the most were the old 80's/90's bikes or weird things that would come in the shop. Nothing was more satisfying than giving a tune-up and fixing up an old abandoned-in-the-shed steel Rocky Mountain from the 90's to get it back working like a new one. Trying new old things like that friction shifter or riding rigid bikes keeps things interesting in this era where bikes work so well and are so "easy" to ride. I brought out the old hardtail for a few rides with a friend this summer and he asked "Why are you riding this instead of your shiny new bike?!". Riding it feels so different, but at the same time, it reminds me that I have just as much fun riding a low-end hardtail as when riding my new high-end custom full-suspension bike built exactly like I wanted. Plus it's always satisfying to pass people on 8K$ Yetis with that old hardtail haha!